Automatic cut-off knife adjuster



ug. 20, 1935. R. E. RUNDELL AUTOMATIC CUT-OFF KNIFE ADJUSTER Original Filed Aug. 14, 1931 ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 20, 193g UNITED STATES ansia 2,011,913 v AUTOMATIC CUT-oFF KNIFE .annus'raa Application August 14, 1931, Serial No. 557,163 t. Renewed February 2, 1935 29 Claims.

- This invention relates to cutoffs for continuous rod cigarette machines, its object being to automatically advance the cutoff knife gradually in relation to' the ledger plate as the .knife edge wears away during the operation of the machine.

In recently developed high speed cigarette machines it has been found that the wear of the cut off blades is so rapid that appreciable inroads are made on the production of the machine because of the necessity of stopping it to reset the blade. It has been discovered that it is practical to automatically feed the blade despite the difficulty at first found in producing the tremendous reduction in speeds necessary to feed the blade out very gradually as the result of the movement' of the cutoff drive which may be as high as 1,200 to 2,000 revolutions per minute. Accordingly one of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a practical device of this nature which will secure the desired extremely slight movement of the blade in a simple and practical manner. Still another object is to do this Without the use of long delicate trains of gears. Still another object is to provide for the continuous gradual feeding of the blade instead of the intermittent setting up of the blade which necessarily produces less uniform cutting and less uniform sharpening and requires more readjustment of other parts such as the grinder, than the gradual continuous feed of the blade contemplated in the present invention.

Another object'of the invention is to adjustably mount a grinding wheel on the moving or reciprocating ledger plate and providing for adjustment of this grinding wheel on the ledger plate during the operation of the machine. To this end it is an object of the invention to provide a stationary adjusting device which is connected by" means permitting movement of the ledger plate and grinder to said device so that the grinder is always subject to adjustment. Thus it is an object of the invention to provie a cutoff which'as a whole needs no stopping for any routine operation such as setting up the knife and grinding Wheels.

Still another object is to provide for convenient manual resetting when a new knife replaces an old one, without necessitating any laborious readjustment of the driving gears. Still another object is to provide a convenient connecting mechanism between sets of reducing gears whereby the relation of one set may be conveniently changed with respect to the other set \for the purpose of resetting a toolvholder operated by cically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain constructions and combinations which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawing in which like characters of reference indicate the same or like parts, Fig. 1 is a sectional plan view of the knife adjusting mechanism; Fig. 2 isa detail end ele-V vation of Fig. 1, showing the planetary gear arrangement; Fig. 3 is a detail end view of the knife operating racks and gears taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the knife grinding attachment shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is an end View of the knife driving rack, on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

In carrying the invention into effect there is provided in combination with a cigarette cutoff having a' rod guide or ledger; tube and a knife periodically cooperating therewith to elfect rod cuts, gearing for continuously feeding theknife towards the guide inaccordance with the rate of knife Wear so as to make it unnecessary to stop `the machine when setting the knife forward. In

the best constructions there is also provided man ually actuated means for resetting, said gearing when a new knife is substituted for one that is worn. The best constructions also include a grinder, mechanism for adjustably securing said grinder to the ledger plate which moves to follow `30 the rod, and stationary means in sliding contact withl said mechanism for adjusting the grinder during the operation of the cutoff thereby eliminating the necessity for stopping the machine for this purpose also. The various means referred to may be varied widely in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many possible concrete embodiments of the same.. The invention therefore is not to be restricted Vto the precise details shown and described.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the wafer knife I0 is fastened to a pair of vertical racks II slidably mounted in grooves I2 of,a ange I3 of drive shaft I4.' The drive shaft I4 revolves on bearings I5 carried by the frame 'I6 of the cigarette machine. Fastened to flange I3 by screws I'l is al rotating knife carrier disk I8 attached to which is a stud I9 on which turns loosely a gear 20 to which is keyed a gear 2I. The gear 2| meshes with a stationary sun gear 22 which is part of a sleeve 23 supported concentrically with shaft I4 by a bracket 24 attached to the frame ofthe cigarette machine. The other gear 20 engages with a sun gear 25 keyed to a spiral gear 34 meshing with spiral gear 35 turn? ing shaft 36. The shaft 36 carries a spur gear 31 which engages with an axially sliding horizontal round rack 38 carried in sleeve 23, which rack, on moving inwardly by the turning -of gear 31, causes the annular teeth 39 at its inner end portion to act as a rack and thus to rotate the spur gear 40 on shaft 4|. The shaft 4I carries a set of spur gears 42 engaging with the vertical racks Il, and thus moves the knife I0 radially outward at a predetermined rate corresponding with its Wear.

A xedlymounted bevel gear 43 on drive shaft I4 is in mesh with a bevel gear 44 on eccentric stud 45. This stud 45 revolves on bearings 46 and has a link 41 attached to it, the free end of which is connected to a block 48 sliding in a gib 49 carried by the frame |6. The slide block 48 carries a lug 50, Fig. 4, threadedly supporting an adjusting rod 5| carrying a bracket 52, clamped to which is a ball jointed arm 53 supporting the grinding wheel 54. A stationary arm 55 attached to the frame |6 carries a stud 56 attached to one end of which/is a knob 51, the other end having a squared portion 58 corresponding to the square hole 59 in the adjusting rod 5|. When it is necessary to make an adjustment of the grind-y ing wheel, the adjusting rod 5| can be moved by turning the knob 51. The stud 56 being turnabiy mounted in the stationary arm 55, the reciprocating motion of the slide block 48 causes the adjusting rod 5| to slide to and fro on the stationary, squared portion 58 of stud 56. The bracket 52 carries a rod 60, the other end of which is loosely tted into the lug 50, thereby preventing the bracket 52 from turning.

The cigarette rod C passes through the tubes 6| and 62 carried by the slide block 48, the latter tube 62 forming the ledger plate for the cutoff knife which cuts the cigarette rod into individual cigarettes of the desired length..

When the knife I0 is worn to such anextent that it is necessary to replace the same, the clamp plate 63 attached to the disk |8'by screws 64 is removed and the latch 65, Fig. 5, which ts the attened section 66 of the rack 38 is released and the rack is turned through 90 by means of the knob 61 whereupon the attened surface`68 of rack 38 comes opposite gear 31, thereby Ydisengaging the mesh between the gear and rack. The latter can then be pulled out, and in doing so, the annular teeth 39 revolve the gears 40 and 42, thereby returning the vertical racks l to their starting position.

A casing 69 surrounding the entire gear arrangement is attached to the disk |8 and revolves with the same on a bearing 10, the forward end of casing 69 traveling in an annular recess of the stationary bracket 24 which'carries the latch 65.

In the operation of the improved device the cutting device or knife I0 which is illustrated as a wafer knife, butr which might equally be a rotating disk knife on a suitable bearing, is gradually fed outwardly by pinions 42 acting on racks Il. Pinions 42 are driven by pinion 40 from a circular rack bar 39 which receives longitudinal motion from a gear 35 which gear 35 receives its motion from gear 32 which is driven through a pair of epicyclic gear trains of a na.-

ture such that extreme speed reductions are produced. The gears 28, 29, 3l and 32 constitute one of these trains and the gears 20, 2|, 22 and 25 constitute another of these trains in series with the first. As well known in the watchmaking art, if a pair of planet gears are rotated about a pair of sun gears each of which engages one of the planet gears and one of those sun gears is held stationary then t e other ysun gear will be given an extremely gradual4 rotation if the products Iof the number of teeth on the diagonally opposite gears are nearly but not quite equal. For example, if the number of teeth .of gears 20 and 22 be 27 and 37 respectively and have a product equal-to 999 and gears 2| and 25 have 40 and 25 teeth respectively making a product equal to 1,000, then for one revolution of the planet gears about the sun gear 22, and sun gear 25 will be given 1/1,000th of a. revolution and the two trains in series will give 1/1,000,000th of a revolution. An explanation of this type of gearing is given on pages 276-277 of the American Machinist Gear Book, by Charles H. Logue, McGraw-Hill, 1911. v

Thus as a result of one revolution of the blade carrier disk I8 about the stationary sun gear 22 the gear 34 may readily be given 1,000,000th of a turn which slight motion is transmitted to the gear 35 and rack bar 39 and to the pinion 40 to feed out the blade carrying rack bars. Iif the cutoff is operating at 1,000 revolutions a minute, it is quite practical to feed out the blade continuously and automatically at the rate of 1/1,000th of an inch per minute or as much more or less as will just keep up with the wear necessary in properly sharpening the blade, without stopping the machine or taking the operators time.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a cigarette cutoff having a rod guide and a knife periodically co- Hence operating to effect rod cuts, of gearing for continuously feeding the knife toward the guide to compensate for knife wear, and manually actuated means for resetting said gearing for changing knives. 4

2. The combination with a cigarette cutoff having a rod guide and a knife periodically cooperating to effect rod cuts, of gearing `for continuously feeding the knife toward the guide to compensate for knife wear, said gearing including a train of speed reducing spur and worm Wheels moving the knife during each cutoff cycle of operations a distance substantially equal to the knife wear during the same cycle.

3. The combination with a cigarette cutoff having a moving element and a rod guide and knife periodically cooperating to effect rod cuts, said knife being supported by said element, of gearing for continuously feeding the knife toward the guide to compensate for knife wear, said gearing being actuated by the moving element of the cutoff making one revolution per cutoff cycle of operations.

4. The combination with a cigiette cutoff' l having a moving elementand arod guide and a knife periodically cooperating to effect rod cuts, said knife being supported by said element, of gearing for continuously feeding thev knife toward the guide to compensate for knife wear,

aoineie l having a rod guide and a knife periodically co-.,

operating to eiect rod cuts, of gearing for continuously feeding the knife toward the gufde to compensate for knife wear, the major portion of operating to effect rod cuts, of gearing for continuously feeding the knife toward the guide to compensate for knife wear, manually actuated means for resetting said gearing for changing knives, said resetting means including a circular rack bar egaging an element of said gearing for transmitting motion therefrom for feeding said knife, said rack bar having a non-operative porltion, and devices for releasably securing said rack bar to permit bringing the non-operative portion of the rack bar adjacent the element to permit free -longitudinal movement of the rack bar.

8,. In an automatic feed, a holder for the object fed, driven gearing imparting motion to said holder, a longitudinally movable rack bar connecting elements of said gearing for driving one from the other having an inoperative sector. on

the portion on the length of the rack engaging.

one element, and devices permitting rotation of the rack bar about its axis to bring the inoperativeA part adjacent the element to allow longi-.

tudinal movement thereof to reset the holder.

9. V In an automatic feed, a-holder for the object fed, driven gearing imparting motion to said holder, a longitudinally` movable circular rack bar having annularteeth, said bar connecting elements of said gearing for driving one from the other, gearing including a gear in constant engagement with said rack bar having bodily movement about the bar as an axis. v.

10. In an automatic feed, a holder for the obi ject fed, driven gearing imparting motion to said bar in operative position.

11. In a cigarette rod cutoff having a )movable ledger plate, a grinder, mechanism adjustably securing said grinder to said ledger plate to sharpen the cutoff blade and stationary means in sliding contact with said mechanism for adjusting the grinder during operation of the cuto.

12. In a cigarette rod cutoif having a movable ledger plate, a grinder, mechanism adjustably securing said grinder to said ledger plate to sharpen the cutoff blade, relatively stationary means for adjusting the grinder during operation of the cutoff, said mechanism including a. member on the ledger plate rotatableto move the grinder toward' the knife and said means including a manually operable element rotatable on aiixed support and having aconnection to said member allowing free relative longitudinal movement of the memberi relative to the element and preventing rotation of the element relative to the member.

13. In a cigarette rod cutoff having a movable reciprocating ledger plate, a grinder, mechanism adjustably securing said grinder to saidledger plate to sharpen the cutoff blade, relatively stationary means for adjusting the grinder during operation of the cutoi, said mechanism including move the grinder toward the knife, a manually a threaded shaft on the ledger plate rotatable to operable element rotatable on a xed support and l having a connection to said threaded shaft allowing free relative longitudinal movement of the shaft relative to the element and preventing rotation of the element relative to the shaft, said connection comprising coacting non-circularmale and female portions one on the element and one on the shaft. 1

14. The combination with a cigarette cutoff knife, having a rod guide, and a knife periodically cooperating to effect rod cuts, of gearing for feeding theknife, said gearing including an epicyclic gear train having a controlling sun gear, and a driven sun gear and a pair of planet gears rotating in unison, one driven from the controlling sun gear and the other driving the driven gear.

.15. In a cigarette cutoff, the combination with a rotary knife carrier, a cutting device mounted for bodily adjustment on said carrier, a stationary member coaxial with said carrier, andmeans for continuously feeding the device at a rate to compensate for wear of the cutting device as' a result of the motion of the carrier with respect to the stationary device.

1-6. In a cigarette cutoff, the combination with a lrotary carrier, of a cutting device mounted for adjustment on said carrier, a stationary member, and means for feeding the device as a result ofthe motion f the carrierwith respect to the stationary device, said means including an `epicyclic gear train having a controlling sun gear secured to the stationary member, a freely rotatable sun gear and a pair of planet gears rotating in unison and secured to the carrier for revolution therewith, one of said planet gears engaging with 4the controlling sun gear and the other of said planet gears engaging withthe freely rotatable gear.

17. A rack bar designed to transmit movement to or from toothed members, comprising a bar of circular cross-section having rack teeth extending circumferentially about the bar and having the teeth cutaway for a portion of the length of the bar on one side Athereof to permit bringing the bar into and out of operative engagement with the toothed member by turning said bar about its axis.

18. The combination with a rotary support, of

f a device revolving with the support and requiring. adjustment thereon, a longitudinally movable said device for vadjusting-the device through said f movement of the rack.

19. 'I'he combination with a rotary support, of-

a device revolving with the support and requiring adjustment thereon, a longitudinally movable rack bar coaxial with the support and having annular rack teeth, a toothed member engaging the rack and traveling with the support about said rack said member being movable on the support in response to longitudinal movemen-t of the rack, means connecting said member and said device for adjusting the device through said movement of the rack said toothed member comprising a gear, and said connections including a radially extending rack bar connected to said holder and engaging said gear.

20. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the combination with a rotating carrier having a cutoff knife adjustably mounted thereon, a non-rotating operating member coaxial with and capable of axial movement with relation to said carrier, and connections between the .member and said knife for adjusting vthe knife on the carrier in response' to said movement of the member while the carrier is rotating.

. 21. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the cornbination with a rotating carrier having a cutoff knife adjustably mounted thereon, an operating member coaxial with and capable of movement with relation -to said carrier, connections between the member and said knife for adjusting the knife on the carrier in response to said movement of the member while the carrier is rotating, and means taking motion from the rotation of the carrier for moving said member.

22. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the combination with a rotating carrier having a cutoff knife adjustably mounted thereon, a non-rotating operating member coaxial with and capable of.

movement with relation to said carrier, connections between member and said knife for adjusting the knife on the carrier in response to said movement of the member while the carrier is rotating, and manually operable means connected to said member to permit movementof said member by hand.

23. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the combination with a rotating carrier having a knife adjustably mounted thereon, a circular rack coaxial with said carrier and movable relative to the carrier, and connec-ting means on the carrier freely rotatable about said rack and coacting with said rack and knife during rotation of the carrier, to adjust the knife in response to axial movemen-t of the rack.

24. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the combination with a'rotating carrier having a cutoff knife adjustably mounted thereon,.of an operating member co-axial with and mounted for axial movement on said carrier and connections between said member and said knife for adjusting the knife on'the carrier in response to said axial movement of the member, said member having a portion projecting from the carrier for convenient operation by an operator.

25. The combination with -a rotating carrier having a knife adjustably mounted thereon, of an operating member co-axial with and mounted for axial movement on said carrier and connections between said member and said knife for adjusting the knife on the carrier in response Vto said axial movement of the member, said connections including a toothed wheel on said carrier and .means actuated by said member and engaging the teeth of said wheel. l0

26. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the combination with a rotating carrier having a cutoff\ knifef adjustably mounted thereon, of an operaton an axis transverse to the axis. of the carrier,

and said member carrying means engaging the teeth of said wheel.

27. The combination with a rotating carrier having a knife mounted for radial adjustment on said carrier, of an operating member co-axial with and capable of movement with relation to said carrier, connections between the member and the knife for adjusting the knifeon the carrier in response to said movement of the member While the carrier is rotating, and means driven vin timed relation to the rotation of said carrier for imparting movement to said member.

28. The combination with .a rotating carrier having a knife adjustably mounted thereon, of an operating member co-axial with and mounted for axial movement on said carrier, connections between the member and said knife for adjusting the knife on the carrier'in response to said axial movement of the member while the carrier is rotating, and means driven in timed relation to the rotation of said carrier for axially moving said member.

29. In a cutoff for cigarette machines, the combination with a rotating carrier having a cutoff knife adjustably mounted for radial movement thereon, an operating member co-axial with and capable of axial movement with relation to said carrier, connections between the member and said knife for adjusting the knife on the carrier inI response to axial movement of the member while 5 said carrier with a peripheral portion travelling 5 in the direction of knife movement acting to drive said knife in said direction.

RUPERT E. RUNDELL. 

